1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an arrangement for providing wear surfaces for a railroad car coupler carrier assembly and more particularly to an economical and effective method and arrangement for attaching large area wear plates to the walls of the carrier assembly housing.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Railroad car couplers are usually resiliently supported on a carrier or spring basket assembly located adjacent the open end of the striker portion of the center sill. The carrier assembly comprises a carrier member having a top plate engaged with the shank portion of the coupler which extends through the open end of the striker portion. A plurality of springs are positioned between the top plate of the carrier and a bottom plate of the carrier housing. The carrier member has front and back vertical walls which engage a respective wall of the housing and in F type couplers the movement of the couplers which occurs both in horizontal and vertical planes in response to coupling and other forces, creates considerable wear on the front and back walls of the housing. The wear on the front wall extends over a considerable area and in some cases the wear becomes so pronounced that the walls are burned out and must be replaced by wear plates. To permit this condition to occur is obviously undesirable.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to initially provide improved wear surfaces for the housing of a carrier assembly.
The provision of improved wear surfaces for the assembly housing is however difficult since the housing is generally open only at the top and at several core or drain holes adjacent the bottom wall.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to enable an economical and/or facile attachment of wear plates to a carrier housing wall.
The back wall of the housing is usually provided with an arcuate or non planar portion while the front wall receives wear over a considerable area. The provision of a wear plate of corresponding shape to the back wall and having a sufficient bearing area for use on the front wall is therefore unfeasible.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide large area wear plates interchangeably useable for both the front and back walls of a carrier housing.